Business View Australia

Business View Australia - April 2015 15

to flourish- which includes an awareness of where

not to intervene and interfere-that the Doing Busi-

ness report tries to measure.”

The survey arrives at a final ease of banking rank

for a country by summing up the impact of 10 in-

dividual criteria. These are starting a business,

dealing with construction permits, getting electric-

ity, registering property, getting credit, protecting

minority investors, paying taxes, trading across

borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insol-

vency.

Australia, which has been placed at the 10th po-

sition in the survey, is ranked just below the U.S.

(7), the U.K. (8) and Finland (9) and enjoys a high-

er ranking as compared to Sweden (11), Iceland

(12), Ireland (13) and Germany (14).

The prospects for

Australian busi-

ness

All the factors required for a strong economy and

a vibrant private sector are available in plenty.

An educated and hard-working population, ro-

bust government institutions, abundant natural

resources and above all a track-record of utilis-

ing all these in combination to grow the economy

consistently over decades.

Australia also has the advantage of a well-devel-

oped agricultural sector which, most importantly,

carries out high value addition activities which

result in employment and income for its citizens.

The recent collapse of commodity prices has had

some impact on the mining and oil sectors but

with stabilisation of prices and a continued de-

mand for the minerals that the country produces

the future of this sector seems assured.

The deceleration in China’s growth in recent

times will not have any major impact on Austra-

lia’s economy for two reasons. One, the Chinese

economy is still growing at a rate of about 6% or

more and this is on a base of US$10 trillion. At

these levels the demand for Australian iron and

coal will continue to be substantial. Two, the Aus-

tralian service sector at 67% of the economy is

an important driver of growth and jobs.

All indicators point to the continued growth of

Australian business and the economy well into

the future.